Those Who Guard
by kristii
Summary: 500 years after the establishment of Crystal Tokyo, the Lady Mars finds herself facing the ultimate question: Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, but what is the price of eternal vigilance?


Last year, my history teacher was really big on the whole thing about   
eternal vigilance being the price of freedom; that always got me   
wondering: who got the freedom, and who had to stand vigilant?  
  
After all, doesn't the very nature of their duty require that those   
who guard never have the freedom to leave their posts?   
  
Just wondering...   
comments -- aznvballgurl@yahoo.com  
  
Sailor Moon and affiliated characters (c) Naoko Takeuchi  
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Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.  
  
Who was it that first said those words to me, so long ago?   
  
Who was it that first fed me such a pretty, empty lie?   
  
----------  
  
"Mars."  
  
The Lady Mars looked up at the voice, a shadow of a smile   
touching her lips. "Pluto? I'm honored. Since when does the Senshi of  
Time deign to spend her evenings attending royal receptions?"   
  
"Since the guest of honor decided to spend her evening   
watching the party from her rooms." Setsuna looked down at the younger   
woman, her voice laced not with accusation, but with sympathy. "Why   
the solitude, Mars? Tonight, of all nights, you should be out there,   
dancing to your heart's content. After all, it's not every day that   
the Lady Mars can quell a rebellion the day before the quincentennial,  
is it?"   
  
"Does it matter?" The Lady Mars looked almost amused as she   
glanced up, then spoke again. "You, of all people, should know this,   
Pluto. After five hundred years, neither balls or victories can retain  
any meaning." She paused for a moment, and her voice was very soft   
when she resumed. "Especially. . . When there is no one to share them   
with."  
  
Pluto nodded in understanding, but her words were impassive.   
"Are the Queen and the citizens of Crystal Tokyo nobody, then?"   
  
"In a way... yes." Mars sighed, looking away. "Why are you   
fighting with me, Pluto? You know exactly what I'm trying to say.   
Serenity's love is wonderful, but it's not enough to keep you going,   
not after this many years... I'm so tired, Pluto, you know that? I'm   
not in the mood to smile and nod and entertain ambassadors, not   
tonight..."   
  
"That would be well if this were Serena's private party,"   
Pluto said quietly. "But this is a state function, Mars, and as a   
member of the Royal Guard, your presence is expected. The foreign   
dignitaries are beginning to wonder why the Lady Mars did not bother   
to honor them with their presence, especially when so many of them   
traveled here especially to make her acquaintance-"  
  
"Let them wonder." Mars looked down at the royal gardens below  
her, thronged with mingling guests. "You know as well as I that it is  
not my role to kiss the ass of every 'foreign dignitary' that shows   
up."  
  
"I do. But it is your role to at least show up-"  
  
"Is it?" Mars' eyes were fiery as she turned toward Pluto, her  
voice filled with anger as she spoke. "Don't tell me what my role is,   
Pluto. Don't tell me it's my role to go down there and keep a smile on   
my face all night while every other ambassador gives me a little   
speech about how wonderful we Senshi are for being so dedicated; do   
you know what it's like to have to smile and nod while they keep   
telling you about how eternal vigilance is the only way to protect our  
freedom, and how important it is that we remember that?" She looked   
away, her voice lowering a few notches. "Do you know what it's like,   
Pluto, to have to hear ten generations of ambassadors repeat those same  
empty lies?"   
  
"Don't I?"   
  
"I-" Mars closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath as she   
tried to calm herself. "I'm sorry, Pluto. I didn't mean to yell; it's   
just..."  
  
"What right do they have to say such things?"   
  
"Yes." Mars nodded, biting her lip. "What right do they have,  
Pluto, to spew such pretty rhetoric? It's so easy to bring out the   
clichés for state functions; do they know what it is like to live it?"  
She looked out at the guests, but her gaze was focused on something   
beyond the crowds below. "For all the work they put into those pretty   
words, Pluto, they forgot to address something when they made up that   
phrase about eternal vigilance-"  
  
"Yes." Pluto looked away for a moment, then continued. "Who   
enjoys the freedom, and who must stand vigilant?"   
  
"Exactly." Mars stared down blankly, her eyes tracing the   
edges of the marble blocks in the balcony. "They don't understand,   
Pluto. I'm so tired... I've been working for five hundred years   
now--five hundred years, without a single day's pause." She sighed, and   
her voice showed signs of tears. "I've stood vigilance for five times   
any of their lifetimes, and I'm just so tired... I've given up so much  
for Crystal Tokyo already, Pluto--my husband, my daughter, my whole   
life; I've destroyed Hino Rei and replaced her with Mars, but even   
Mars cannot work forever..."   
  
"I know, Mars, I know." Pluto sat down by the younger woman,   
taking her into her arms. "We all get tired after a few hundred years,   
Mars, but it's not our place to rest..."  
  
"I know... I wish it was." Mars sighed. "I know I have to go   
on, Pluto, whether I like it or not, but... I don't want to go on any   
longer." The first tears broke loose, sliding down her cheeks and   
staining the velvet of Pluto's gown. "It's not the vigilance I mind,   
but the eternity. I-I've been serving Crystal Tokyo for five hundred   
years, Pluto; is that not enough? I just want to live, like anyone   
else; I just want to leave and never come back, to take up a new name   
and just live for a few years. Live for myself, not the Queen, not   
Crystal Tokyo..."   
  
"You want freedom?"  
  
"Yes." Mars nodded, closing her eyes. "There are so many   
things I want to do, Pluto: walk down the streets with the man I love,  
watch my own daughter grow up... I want to sleep late on Saturdays,   
then go out and mow the lawn; to walk barefoot on the beach and look   
for shells by the water; to attend college reunions and see faces I   
know, and exchange tales of careers and child-rearing as we sip beers   
and laugh..." She swallowed hard, forcing down a wave of tears. "I   
want all those things that the meanest citizen of Crystal Tokyo has,   
Pluto, and that I will never experience..."   
  
"You want to be Hino Rei again, not Mars."  
  
"Yes." Mars was silent for a long time. "What happened,   
Pluto?" She asked finally. "What happened? We used to be so young and  
proud, so full of bright plans for the future, so ready to take on   
the world and all its wrongs... And look at us now: We finally created   
utopia, but not one of us can rejoice in that. I don't understand it,   
Pluto-what went wrong?"  
  
"Even utopia darkens with the passing of the centuries, Mars."   
  
"I suppose..." A shadow passed over Mars' face. "No. It's not   
just the passing of the years, Pluto; it's because we sold our souls   
to create our utopia."   
  
"Did we?"   
  
"Perhaps you retained yours; I did not." The two sat silent   
for a long time, and it was Mars who finally spoke again. "It's true,   
Pluto, you know it. We gave up everything we had to create and   
maintain Crystal Tokyo. We gave up our happiness, our chances at   
family, our right to live our lives as we wished--we gave up all our   
choices but one, Pluto: our duty to the Queen and her people. And for   
that, we have paid with our freedom..."  
  
"That's very true," Pluto said softly. "Eternal vigilance is   
the price of freedom, but for those who guard eternal... the very  
freedom they guard is the price that they pay for their vigilance.   
You're one of the first to realize that, Mars; there's only one thing   
you haven't thought of."   
  
"What?"   
  
"Why is it, that we will sacrifice that freedom?"   
  
Mars said nothing for a long time. "In the uprising I   
crushed," she said finally, "the rebels had looted much of Osaka.   
While I was there, I saw a group of schoolgirls who had been raped by  
rebel soldiers." She looked away, remembering the sight that had   
stunned her. "They were so young, Pluto, so full of dreams--just like   
we were, so many years ago." Mars' voice hardened, and her eyes blazed   
liquid fire. "They were fourteen years old, fifteen; and in one   
instant, they had lost their dignity, their innocence, their   
childhoods...  
  
"That's what I'm fighting for, Pluto--that no girl shall ever   
have to lose those things again." Mars closed her eyes for a moment,   
then looked up at Pluto, her eyes filled with tears. "I've sacrificed  
my own childhood and innocence, Pluto. I don't want any other girl to  
ever have to do that again..."  
  
Pluto nodded, and stood, scarlet eyes unreadable in the   
moonlight. "As long as you know that, Mars, it doesn't make a   
difference whether you attend royal receptions or not." She turned to  
go, staff in hand, dark hair flowing behind her. "Someone will always   
have to sacrifice to serve the others, Mars. It cannot be helped if   
you and I must be among them."   
  
"Yes... I know." Mars stood too, looking down once more at the   
boisterous revelers. She spoke very softly, as if to herself, her   
voice haunting in the night:   
  
"For them, for their freedom, we have sacrificed our right to  
choose our destinies.  
  
"For them, so that they will always be free to pursue their   
dreams, we have given up our own futures and our wishes.   
  
"For them, so that they will never need to follow in our   
footsteps, we will stand eternal vigilance, guarding with our broken   
dreams their hopes for Crystal Tokyo."   
  
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